THE DYNAMICS OF POST COLONIAL ECOFEMINISM AND HEGEMONIC MASCULINITIES IN MANJULA PADMANABHAN’S ESCAPE

Abstract

Ecofeminism which links ecological concerns and feministic interests has been gaining steady ground in the last few decades .It has assumed paramount importance in the current context where preserving  the planet has become the mainstay of many activists and organisations .Placing ecofeminism in the post colonial context helps to shed light on the Asian perspectives embedded therein. Hegemonic masculinities  is intertwined  with the destruction of nature and the oppression of women. This paper seeks to interpret Manjula Padmanbhan’s novel ‘Escape’ by placing it within this bifocal framework. The novel envisages a world of only men where women are not the ‘other’ but non-existent, having been exterminated from earth. The paper explores how the author analyses the dangers that can befall a society devoid of the other sex and shows how a man’s world is based on establishing authority and retaining control over other men, women and nature.